# Am I weird for having no problem with eating a "dry" sandwich? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 25, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557 "2026-04-25T23:39:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/41 "2026-04-26T16:41:29Z")
I find a juicy slice of tomato works well in place of KMM ( ketchup mustard mayo) Sometimes I’ll have a breakfast sandwich from the freezer we call them lard bombs, spicy chicken on a biscuit no kmm needed but a slice of tomato for the win. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/42 "2026-04-26T16:48:46Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I can see putting a thin layer of butter in a sandwich to act as a binder, but why must there be any sauce (condiment) to begin with? I don’t see what I’m missing if there is none. It’s for lubrication > **[New High-Viscosity Mayonnaise To Aid In American Swallowing](https://theonion.com/new-high-viscosity-mayonnaise-to-aid-in-american-swallo-1819564964/)** > > ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ–The act of swallowing will soon be easier for millions of food-shoveling Americans, thanks to QX-1, a revolutionary new high-viscosity/low-friction mayonnaise developed by scientists at Hellmann’s. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/43 "2026-04-26T16:53:53Z")
Why does Arby’s put so much mayonnaise on their sandwiches? It makes it easier to flush them down the toilet. (Hat tip: Neil Hamburger) ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/44 "2026-04-26T16:54:25Z")
Why do my favorite threads begin 20-ish hours before I get a chance to post? Anyway, I’m with the OP, not just for my distaste ( and smell ) of mayo, but this hive-mind insistence about turning every sandwich into a semi-solid glob. Dry is good: I like the flavors better, I don’t like having to have to wipe my mouth and face with a napkin a dozen times to eat a sandwich. Just several weeks ago we had food catered in at work, from a local BBQ place. Shredded pork and chicken, slightly moist and seasoned, served on make-your-own sandwich buns. I was chided several times as to why I didn’t avail myself of the all the different sauces provided to pour all over the sandwich contents: they were incredulous! Besides being a gloppy mess, they were all so sugary smelling. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/45 "2026-04-26T18:28:24Z")
The issue with places like Carls jr is that their meat has no real flavor- other than salty. So they need the condiments. Otherwise no flavor. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/46 "2026-04-26T20:20:59Z")
I wanted meat and bread only as a kid. I grew out of that phase by high school. Now, I usually mix mayo and a little mustard on my home made sandwiches. Burgers are mayo and a little ketchup. Plain meat and bread doesn’t appeal to me anymore. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/47 "2026-04-26T20:31:25Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > The better the quality of the other ingredients, the more I want the meat, bread, and sometimes cheese to stand out. Like at a good deli. I don’t want pickles on anything - they overpower. But a good kosher dill on the side to add a sour note between bites? Great! I LOVE Kosher dill pickles. Give me one on a toothpick as a topper for my sandwich, put it on the side, heck, use it to garnish my Bloody Caesar (done by the local Toronto restaurant chain The Pickle Barrel). > [@needscoffee](#): > > One of my favorite sandwiches right now is rare roast beef on toasted bread (I like pumpernickel or very dark rye) with cranberry mustard and some horseradish sauce. This is actually a good combination. If I had a Pastrami on Rye, a corned beef sandwich, a Reuben, whatever, I’d be happy to have it with the traditional mustard, and I do like horseradish. Both I think would go well with roast beef. > [@Spoons](#): > > You would have liked “Bogie’s Sandwich Bar” back in the day. They were a small Toronto chain, maybe three or four locations, and you ordered your sandwich by filling out a form. On that form, you could check all that you wanted on your sandwich, and if you did not want something, you simply didn’t check it at all. I’ve never been to this place, but sounds progressive. They had my philosophy. I think I would have liked it. > [@Spoons](#): > > I don’t know if you ever got to eat at Toby’s, in Toronto. They did burgers and fries, and that was pretty much it. Oh, they might have had a green salad, and perhaps a brownie or ice cream for dessert, but their main claim-to-fame were their burgers. > > One thing that they always had on the menu was what they called their “Honest Burger.” It was a cooked beef patty between two halves of a bun, and that was it. If you wanted anything else on it, there was mustard, relish, and ketchup on the table. Anything else, you ordered it: cheese, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, at 25c extra each. I did eat at Toby’s a couple of times in my early adolescence. My memories of it are limited. If they had the condiments on the table, that’s great. That is IMO a solution to the whole discussion we’re having here. I always like it when a restaurant has a selection of condiments in the middle of the table that you can put on yourself as desired. If I owned a restaurant, equipping each table with a self-serve condiment selection would be a must. On a more personal note, my own memories of Toby’s (would estimate I ate there 2 to 4 times) leave me with mixed feelings. On the positive side, they had great French Onion Soup, one of my most favorite things to eat in the whole world. Their Bull Terrier mascot was cute. And my very vague recollection of their burgers was that they _were_ good quality, although I don’t remember them well enough to say if they would have ticked all my boxes. On the less positive side, I recall not liking that their main dishes were pretty much limited to burgers. As I mentioned in my OP, I’m actually not a big burger person – for me they are mainly fast food and I wouldn’t typically order them in a sit-down restaurant. Also, I wasn’t crazy about the decor (I remember the one that used to be at the Toronto Eaton’s Centre), which I recall as having a lot of black and the now-common feature of exposed ceiling infrastructure. > [@Spoons](#): > > @Der_Trihs , if you do find yourself in Canada, look for a Harvey’s. It’s a fast food chain, but it will serve you a plain burger if you like. They default to plain, actually. > > When your burger is ready, they ask you what you want on it. You tell them. There are many choices, laid out behind the glass (rather like Subway), and the person behind the counter will put whatever you want on your burger. There are many choices, and if you want more, just ask: “Mustard, relish, two pickles please, one slice of tomato, one raw onion ring and a few hot pepper rings,” for example. That’s what you’ll get, and you get to watch them make it for you. Of course, if you don’t want something, don’t ask for it; and if you want nothing at all, just say so, and you will get nothing at all. > > The difference between Toby’s and Harvey’s is that Toby’s was a sit-down table service restaurant that also served beer and wine, while Harvey’s is fast food, where the strongest drink is Coke or coffee. Regardless, there is still a place where a plain burger will be a plain burger, if that’s what you want. Yes, Harvey’s! I ate there regularly when I was last in Canada, and this was a big plus: I could choose what I wanted on the burger from a very nice selection of ingredients – indeed rather like Subway. And here we get full-circle to my original point. Harvey’s is indeed a classic fast food outlet – similar to McDonald’s or Burger King (the one I ate in was paired with Swiss Chalet and had chicken rotisserie offerings as well). Yet they have no problem asking you what you want on your burger, whereas at McD or BK they have standardized ingredients for each sandwich. (Oh, and Harvey’s beef patties are definitely done better than McDonald’s). If Harvey’s can ask you what you want on your burger, why can’t a slightly better “greasy spoon” (a private burger and grill joint, a diner, etc.) do so? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/48 "2026-04-26T20:35:20Z")
I’ve strongly disliked both mayonnaise and Miracle Whip since childhood, probably in reaction to food-preparers (my mother and her mother) who adored them. Their sandwiches were basically excuses for ingesting massive amounts of the greasy white substances. Now I’m fine with dry BLTs and clubs and other sandwiches. I do like a bit of mustard with ham or pastrami, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/49 "2026-04-26T20:38:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > But, to the OP, I’m with you. I strongly dislike the flavor of mayonnaise, and it frustrates me how frequently people who prepare my food at restaurants can’t understand that “plain” and “no mayo” means exactly that. Please, _please_ do not put mayo on my food! I suspect there are plenty of people who assume that of course there’s mayonnaise on a plain sandwich. People are weird. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/50 "2026-04-27T09:31:57Z")
Basic mayonnaise has oil and egg yolks in it (and a bit of vinegar, mustard, etc.) It should be high in fat, that is, not “wet” or watery, and not plain. If you encounter cheap imitation mayonnaise or “sandwich sauce”, OK, but that is not mayonnaise. You do not need to drown the sandwich in it, either. Butter (no mayonnaise) you will get on, e.g., your typical ham-and-butter baguette sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/51 "2026-04-27T12:08:48Z")
Amazingly, many fast food places no longer include mustard on their standard burgers. To me it seems essential, but I guess some folks don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/52 "2026-04-27T12:27:49Z")
I refused to eat McDonald’s hamburgers as a kid, to the dismay of my mother. I’m pretty sure it was because of the mustard. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/53 "2026-04-27T12:36:41Z")
It’s not at all surprising to me - but that’s because I live in NYC, where mustard has never been standard on a burger. One local McDonald’s started putting mustard on burgers by default - it only lasted a few months. My guess is it resulted in too many special orders. I don’t think they even have packets and if you order for delivery there’s no option for mustard at all, neither to add extra nor to remove it. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/54 "2026-04-27T12:58:45Z")
I’ve been a Plain Eater all of my life. I don’t eat: Mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles, olives, relish I will eat: BBQ sauce, chipotle mayo (lightly applied), ketchup IN sloppy joes or other dishes. I always have to order my food plain. When I eat a sandwich, burger, or hot dog, I want to taste the actual meat, cheese, etc. Condiments cover up the main item. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/55 "2026-04-27T13:12:34Z")
The last few times I ordered a burger, it came with little packets of mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, etc., that you could use, or if I ate at the joint there were dispensers of various sauces. You were not forced to put anything on it by default, which is good because I encountered at least one sauce that tasted like it had a bunch of sugar in it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/56 "2026-04-27T19:04:51Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I’ve never been to this place, but sounds progressive. They had my philosophy. I think I would have liked it. We have a couple local places that are like that. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/57 "2026-04-27T19:38:47Z")
I agree, mustard lover here. But I wonder how or when it got divorced from the ubiquitous KMM? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/58 "2026-04-27T19:51:02Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I had a different friend who ate their hamburger a layer at a time - top bun first, vegetation if any next, then patty, then bottom bun. That’s a weird habit for sure. Did the separability of condiments and melted cheese ever come up? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/59 "2026-04-27T20:20:43Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > I agree, mustard lover here. But I wonder how or when it got divorced from the ubiquitous KMM? In addition to being allergic to eggs, the smell of mustard nauseates me. You can have mine in perpetuity. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557/60 "2026-04-27T20:41:12Z")
The good thing about mustard is that, unlike ketchup or mayonnaise, mustard is relatively low calorie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-weird-for-having-no-problem-with-eating-a-dry-sandwich/1029557.md?page=4)